The present invention relates generally to the field of software, and more particularly to creating a screen capture capable of activating local applications for further utilization.
A screen capture (e.g., screen shot, screen grab, screen dump, etc.) is a digital image taken by a computing device to record the visible information displayed on a visual output device that is saved as a static graphics file (i.e., takes a snapshot or picture of the visual output shown to a user of the computing device). Screen captures are created when a user selects at least a portion of the visual output and utilizes functions of the operating system or applications installed on the computing device to obtain a digital image (e.g., print screen, copy and paste, image editor, screen recording software, etc.). Screen captures provide a means to demonstrate or relay information to another user that may be difficult to explain verbally. Additionally, screen captures provide a means for a user to save information that may not be easily saved and/or printed for future use.
Information pertaining to document files, digital images, videos, spreadsheets, and web pages is stored in metadata. Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource. Three types of metadata include: descriptive (e.g., discovery and identification), structural (e.g., how compound objects are put together), and administrative (e.g., assists to manage a resource). Metadata can be embedded in a digital object (e.g., HTML documents, headers of image files) or stored separately (e.g., database linked to objects described). Internal or embedded metadata stays with the data being described and is available with the data and can be manipulated locally. External or stored metadata allows collocation metadata for all the contents for more efficient searching and management.